Happy Friday! I hope you’ve found some ways to put some frugal into your week. There are so many different ways to save little bits of money all week long. And we all know that those little bits can really add up!
This week we’ve been making some choices and moves towards our BHAG of paying off debt. If you missed the April check in, you can check out that post and see how our payoff plan is going.
The 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week
Old Dryer
We have a special water situation in our home. We have no access to public water or to a cistern or rain collection system. We are dependent on a man to haul water to our home in his truck on a fairly regular basis.
Water is not cheap. It’s a valued resource for us.
When we first moved in, getting a HE washer was a priority. With a medium sized family, we do a lot of laundry! Running a washer at 40 gallons of water per load wasn’t going to fly. So we bought an expensive front loader at 15 gallons per load instead. We recouped that money pretty quickly based on water savings.
But I couldn’t justify buying a new dryer at the same time. So while our washer could do large loads at a time, the dryer couldn’t handle that much laundry.
For 7 years I have been running 2 washer loads to 3 or 4 dryer loads. It’s been a lot of juggling. But juggling saved me several hundreds of dollars that I would have spent on that matching brand new dryer.
New Dryer
I noticed back in the fall that the dryer seemed to be on its way out. It just wasn’t drying as well, and it was just a matter of time before it died. It was bought secondhand and was pretty old.
Last Friday it gave up and completely died. I knew I’d be looking for another dryer as soon as possible. The weather hasn’t been cooperative for hanging clothes, and we can’t go long without laundry.
The very next day, I learned that a friend was selling a dryer for a great deal. Not only that, but it was a larger dryer that actually matches my washer! The timing was like a God wink. Meant to be!
Now doing laundry feels like a vacation. No calculating how much laundry to move from washer to dryer. No loads sitting wet and waiting their turn.
Plus I feel certain that we will save a good bit of money on our electric bill with a more efficient dryer.
Less Snacking
Do you ever think about the American love affair with snacks? Kids seem to think that they are starving if they go an hour without eating. In our home, I allow an after school snack and a bedtime snack. Most of the time it’s fruit or some of their leftover Easter candy. Otherwise, they can wait for the next meal.
Hubby and I are trying to reign in our own snacking habits as well. We don’t eat freely all day either, but I certainly catch myself eating mindlessly. It’s so easy to do when you’re home or working at a desk! Cutting back on snacking saves money and the waistline.
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Dig to the Back of the Fridge
I mentioned that I’m no longer a fan of the pantry challenge, but I do think that it’s important to rotate your foods regularly so it doesn’t go bad before you can use it. One thing we often use is sour cream. I always have several tubs of it on hand.
I try to keep it stacked so that the easiest one to get to is the one that will expire next. (Kids often open a new one, and they won’t think to look at dates.)
But sometimes one will escape somehow and I will find it on the day of the expiration date. When I’m not sure about how long an item is actually good to eat, I often check the Still Tasty website. It’s such a great resource! Bookmark it before your next fridge clean out.
Reprioritized
When we sat down to put together our yearly goals, one of our home goals was to put in a driveway at our barn. This is needed because it’s a tough place to get a truckload of hay put in (for instance). With our growing goat herd, this is becoming important.
That said, the lack of driveway is inconvenient, but not dire. Our main goal, our BHAG for this year, is getting debt paid off. This debt has been a noose around our necks for far too long! We are concerned that if we don’t pull out all of the stops to get it paid off, it will hold us back for a long time.
So the barn driveway is the latest victim in this #yearofno. And we are really happy with our decision to put that money towards the debt instead. Some day we’ll have a beautiful driveway that we pay cash on.
That’s the latest 5 Ways We’ve Saved This Week!
If you’d like to read money saving tips from other weeks, find the whole series right here.
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I’d love to hear how you saved this week! Leave us a comment or a link to your blog post.
The snacking thing is something I need to work on.
I think most of us do! It’s so easy for us to mindlessly snack.
Our sour cream, you are so delicious xD My mister refuses to eat sour cream that tastes “funny” – and his definition is funny is when it’s been open only a few days but it’s already got some water collected in the bottom (why does sour cream do that, anyway?!) and even if I stir everything back together (as you do, because it’s still perfectly fine to eat!) he won’t eat it because he says it makes him feel queasy. So I’ve just switched to buying the little tiny containers that are about 1$ instead of buying the larger ones for 1.25$ or so and having to chuck the last 1/4 or so of the carton.
And oh how I wish we could have a new dryer. We have to run it 1.5 times for dry clothes, no matter the size of the load. Same problem at our last apartment – I’m assuming it’s just crappy apartment appliances…since the dishwashers haven’t gotten everything completely dry, either!
What a pain! Too bad you can’t get the landlord to update something.
Do they make a squeezable sour cream? I wonder if that would help.
they do make a squeezable type sour cream . I think Daisy brand has one. I personally pour off the whey (do it when no one is looking) to use in biscuits, cakes, breads, anywhere buttermilk is called for.
Getting new appliances might be (sometimes) an added expense, but in the long run it can really save you money. We just got all new appliances and our bill went down by half! Definitely worth the upgrade — plus stainless steel does look nice 🙂
Snacking really does add up – in money and calories! I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it much from a savings side.
It’s always surprising how food gets lost in the back of the fridge! My goal this year or next is to get a tumble dryer – at the moment we always seem to have wet laundry everywhere when it’s too wet or cold to put it outside on the line. Thanks so much for linking up to #FridayFrivolity x
I packed my lunch every day that I went to the office last week. Total savings, about $20 🙂 Coffee is free, so YAY!
That’s great! It’s amazing how much you can save by planning ahead a little bit. We’ve been doing much better about bringing lunches and snacks along with us rather than buying them.
I don’t know your personal living arrangements but have you thought of line drying clothes? In rural Australia it is the norm to line dry clothes. My line is small for our family of seven and in the winter we struggle to get all our clothes dry as it gets shaded after mid day. In those times I try to put as much as I can out on the line and use a clothes airer to hang clothes inside. I also hang clothes on the back of chairs etc at night as our small dryer struggles to cope when it has been raining for a while. I definitely notice the increase in electricity bills when I have been using the dryer a lot.
We do hang clothes to dry when the weather cooperates. I have so many loads of laundry per day that I just don’t have the space inside to hang all of it.
Thanks so much for reading!
Man you guys have some serious self-restraint, good for you! And good for you for not throwing away that sour cream – that, yogurt and eggs truly lasts quite a while after the expiration date, I never throw that stuff out unless I can literally see that it has curdled or smells bad!
Self restraint is definitely a work in progress for us! Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
Here in the UK you can really only buy front loading washing machines, so that’s what we’ve always had. I like the fact that mine has a large capacity, but I have never managed to avoid getting a mouldy smell in the machines after a while. This week we have saved a lot because it has actually been dry all week, so we were able to hang the washing outdoors, but that doesn’t happen often! Thank you for sharing about your savings 🙂
A lot of people have that problem with the smell in the front loaders. I’ve not had to worry about that so far. I always leave the door and the detergent compartment open, so I don’t know if that helps or not?
We are in such a busy season right now, but I’m looking forward to hanging laundry outdoors again soon. Thanks for reading!
I admire the way you manage to prioritize paying off the debt. I am putting off a few home things too as long as I can. Thanks for sharing on #FridayFrivolity.
I’m impressed that you were able to handle the dryer situation for so long. The Virgo in me would have gone crazy not having my laundry line up just right…LOL! It paid off though and I’m so happy that you got your new dryer! Thanks also for the Still Tasty tip. I’ve never heard of that site but will definitely use it now! Thanks so much for linking up with us at Share The Wealth Sunday!!! xoxo
That is wonderful that the new machine has already paid for itself by saving on water! I love these kinds of helpful purchases! Thank you for sharing this week on the Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth! 🙂
We’re still using our 20 year old washer and dryer. I dread the day that they permanently kick the bucket and we have to replace them. Sounds like you’re doing a great job getting your debt paid down. We’re doing it slowly, but it is certainly a struggle. Seems like every time we start to make progress, something comes up to knock us back again.
Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop.
If your electic dryer is getting less and less efficient, it’s probably due to lint build-up. Don’t get rid of it just yet!
You need to disconnect the plug and pull the dryer out and then disconnect it from the exhaust duct (especially if you have the flexible plastic/spiral wiring type of duct)
and give everything a good vacuuming. Take the back panel off the dryer as well if possible–you’ll be astonished at how much lint escapes the dryer drum.
Get a long brush:
http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Dryer-Vent-Refrigerator-Brush/dp/B0046OEAHK/ref=pd_sim_201_6?ie=UTF8&dpID=31eB-KwnWkL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0R7Q1M9BRGK5495CRKNE
and a long crevice tool:
http://www.amazon.com/Cen-Tec-Systems-50778-Flexible-Crevice/dp/B00DQKI9RW/ref=pd_sim_201_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=21hWWvSVj9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0R7Q1M9BRGK5495CRKNE
to get those hard-to-reach areas below the lint screen and into the exhaust ducting. If you do have the plastic/spiral wiring type of duct, consider replacing it with a solid metal one, as those are safer.
Don’t forget to go outside and clear out the vent opening–there is usually an incredible amount of buildup there that can keep the flap open and let in cold air in the winter.
After a good, thorough de-linting, your dryer will probably run better than ever!